Excerpt of Included!

DOWN RIVERresources to deal with the problem, and wondered if Janice had the requisitecommitment. She’d kept it from my father. Was that to protect Miriam or forsome other reason? I asked myself one more question, asked because I had to.Could I keep my promise to stay quiet?As I drove away, left her alone, I felt a powerful urge to visit Grace. It wasnot a conscious matter, but one of feeling. They were so different, the two ofthem. Raised on the same property by two men who could have been brothers,they could not be more opposite. Miriam was as cool and quiet as March rain;Grace had the raw force of August heat.But I decided against a visit. There was too much to do, and Dolf, for themoment, needed me more. So I drove past the hospital and continued fartherinto town. I parked in the lot of the Rowan County Municipal Building andtook the stairs to the second floor. Grantham thought he had a motive. Ineeded to take a look at that.The tax assessor’s office was to the right.I entered through a glass door. A long counter ran the width of the receptionarea; seven women occupied the space behind it. None of them paid methe slightest bit of attention as I consulted the huge map of Rowan County thatwas posted on the wall. I found the Yadkin River and traced it until my fingertouched the long bend that contained Red Water Farm. I found the right referencenumber, went to the smaller maps, and pulled the one I needed. I spreadit out on one of the large tables. I expected to see a single fourteen hundredand fifteen acre parcel with my father’s name on it. That’s not what I saw.The farm was delineated on the map: Jacob Alan Chase Family LimitedPartnership. Twelve hundred and fifteen acres.The southern piece of the farm had been carved away, a rough triangle withone long side of curving river. Adolfus Boone Shepherd. Two hundred acres.Robin was right. Dolf owned two hundred acres, including the house.Six million dollars, she’d said. Based on the latest offer.What the hell?I copied the deed book and page numbers onto a piece of scrap paper andreplaced the map on its rack. I went to the counter, spoke to a woman. She wasmiddle-aged and round. Thick blue powder rimmed the hollow space beneathher eyebrows. “I’d like to see the deed for this parcel of land,” I said, and195